


Game Set

by Neiribelin



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-05
Updated: 2014-04-05
Packaged: 2018-01-18 07:18:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1419392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neiribelin/pseuds/Neiribelin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haruka and Rin waking up after a night of virtual tennis matches.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Game Set

**Author's Note:**

> For Tumblr user erernjaeger. (loosely) based on [this](http://erernjaeger.tumblr.com/post/80810021923/imagine-haruka-and-rin-waking-up-after-a-hard-and). I kinda left out a ton of things... *dives into a corner* Please don't hate me, Sofia :( 
> 
> This is my first attempt at writing an actual fanfic...ish thing, so I hope you like it!
> 
> Thank you, [Ketly](http://ketuketu.tumblr.com), [ItsumoMK](http://itsumocassie.tumblr.com), and [Laura](http://kiisuhaldjas.tumblr.com) for taking a moment out of your busy days and reading and checking the text for me!
> 
> If you find any typos, grammar errors, or unicorns, please let me know~
> 
> Enjoy!

“Urgh.”

The morning sun is blazing in through the window, heating up his face and making him wince in his sleep. Rin lets out a muted groan, wiping over his face with the back of his hand to then rub his closed eyes before opening them. His vision is blurry, but after blinking a few times he makes out the familiar shapes of the objects in Haru’s room. Haru’s room… For a moment, he is confused, eyeing the shape of the trophy from elementary school, still standing there on one of the shelves next to the picture of the four of them, cheerful after winning the medley relay. Well, three of them smiling with their mouths, the fourth smiling with his heart... Then a silent sigh from next to him makes him turn his head.

Haru looks like an angel, sleeping peacefully as if nothing in the world could bother him - and right now it couldn’t. His eyes are closed, dark lashes quivering oh so slightly. His black fringe had fallen on one of his eyes, and as Rin reaches his hand out, the bangs feel like cat’s fur under his fingers. _Maybe he is dreaming about mackerel…_ Rin thinks, a tiny smile playing in the corners of his mouth.

At his touch, another strand of hair gets loose, falling on the bridge of Haru’s nose, and the dark-haired boy lets out another sigh, this time more audible, as his breath hitches in an automatic stretch. Only then do his eyes open and the blue gaze meets Rin’s striking red.

“Good morning.”

Rin smiles, his shark-like teeth peeking from between his thin lips. “Morning,” he replies, his fingers gently brushing over Haru’s smooth cheek.

“What time is it?” Haru mutters, already turning his head and upper body towards the clock on the wall, but his plan comes to a halt as Rin puts his hand on his shoulder and keeps him from turning away.

“Does it really matter?” he asks quietly, a soft smile still on his lips, now spread into his eyes as well. Right now, time isn’t of any essence as long as he has Haru next to him. “There’s no practice today, it’s Saturday, remember?” Sometimes there was, when the captain was especially eager to have another joint practice (and probably to ogle his sister again), but not today.

Haru looks at him, his expression hard to read. Then again, it is always incomprehensible, and they didn’t have Makoto around to try and read Haru’s mind, so Rin just waits patiently.

“I guess it doesn’t.”

Silence falls on the room again, except for their silent breathing. Rin’s fingers are drawing tiny circles on the shirt Haru is wearing as his eyes don’t leave Haru’s face even for a second. Haru has closed his eyes once more as if trying to fall asleep again, but Rin doesn’t mind. Haru can sleep the day away if he wants as long as he doesn’t leave his side. After all, they both have earned a day of doing nothing after yesterday.

 

***

 

They had ordered pizza.

Haru had once again put pieces of mackerel on it, and had topped it all with slices of pineapple. Rin had devoured half of the pineapple slices before declaring that if Haru tries to replace those slices, he’s going home. After all, mackerel and pineapple together tasted horrible, and this cluster of tastes next to pepperoni and spicy sauce was just terrible.

They had watched TV. Nothing good was on even though it was a Friday. They ended up watching a re-run of an old sitcom, and then Haru had turned off the TV, throwing himself on the floor in full length and closing his eyes.

10 minutes in complete silence, the clock on the wall ticking. Well, this was boring. Rin stretched himself out, his eyes then falling on the black Wii console sitting right there under the TV. “Let’s play something,” he offered enthusiastically.

Silence.

“Oi, Haru…”

No reply.

With that, Rin grabbed the cushion Haru had been sitting on, and smacked the dark-haired boy in the head. “I’m talking to you, idiot! Let’s play something!”

With a grunt, Haru shoved the cushion away from his face, not having expected anything to end up there, and propped himself up to his elbows. “Are you a grade-schooler?” he muttered, a bit annoyed. Who wouldn’t be when their peaceful lounging is ended with a smack with something?

Rin didn’t listen to Haru pouting - he had already gotten up from his own cushion and had crouched in front of the TV, poking at the shiny black console, starting it up. Two controllers were lying right there next to the console and the DVD player remote. “What should we play?” he asked eagerly as he grabbed the controllers and got up to walk back to Haru and hand him one of the smaller devices. With a swift swing, the table was leaned against the wall to make room for them, and the TV woke with a quiet _plonk!_ as Rin hit the start-up button on the remote.

Haru watched in silence, crossing his legs and sliding the strap of the controller around his wrist while Rin fussed around, clearing the center of the room, finding the menu of the console, opening up the list of games (which wasn’t very long; he hadn’t bothered getting any games, the only ones he had were the ones that Makoto and the others had given him), and going on about what to play. A tiny smile lingered in the corners of his mouth. Then he was pulled to his feet.

It took them five minutes to decide to play a sports game, but then there was another problem: which game? “I want to play a swimming game,” Haru said without even checking the list first.

“I _told_ you there are no swimming games for Wii!” Rin replied, waving his controller around.

“Then they should _make_ a swimming game,” Haru said in all seriousness as if he was prepared to go and make one on his own. They should be catering to the audiences, providing them with everything they like.

Rin chuckled. “Yeah, yeah, you should start a petition then,” he said, his eyes turning to the screen where the available sports games were listed. “What do you want to play? Golf? Baseball? Soccer?” he read out some sports.

“They could develop an underwater soccer game,” Haru said, not really focusing on the important thing here - choosing the game. “Or underwater baseball where a run is actually a swim.”

In the end, they picked tennis. While selecting the characters, Haru pointed to one looking like a grandpa, and said, “This looks just like you, you should pick it,” earning a nudge from Rin.

Truth be told, Rin knew he wasn’t that good in tennis. He had little to no experience in hitting the ball, not to mention aiming it, and half of his receivings flew out of the borders. Haru next to him managed to hit almost every ball, winning game points in the progress. Rin kept glancing at him, and to his delight, he saw a spark of enthusiasm in Haru’s blue eyes with every hit. That made him try harder as well.

A set arrived too soon. “One more run!” Rin declared, pressing the button on the controller to start another match. It was his turn to serve, and he swung his controller to the back as his character on the screen did the same. The hit came out wobbly, barely reaching the small box on the other side of the net, but it counted and the game could start for real. This time… this time he’ll surely score at least one game!

 

*

 

 _“40-love,”_ said the game announcer. Haru had already taken four games from him. Rin was getting pumped up. As Haru swung his controller to receive another ball, Rin smacked his arm with his controller.

“Oi!” Haru let out a shout, his focus momentarily hindered, and his character missed the ball, earning Rin’s character a point. _“40-15.”_

Rin snickered. This might actually work! It was his service game so he might even take it with this tactic. All is fair in love and war!

He was now more focused on Haru’s movements than his own because it was clear that he wasn’t going to get any better by trying to hit the ball into the service boxes, and as he saw another opportunity, he took it. _Smack!_

“Oi!”

Rin let out a loud snort as Haru’s reaction was as expected, and he tried to pull an apologetic look as Haru glared at him. It didn’t work, though; the sly grin was stuck on his face. “You can’t let yourself be distracted by the surroundings, you know,” he snickered, and turned back to the screen to serve another close call.

“Oi!”

“Oi, stop it!”

“Idiot!”

“OI!”

_Smack._

Suddenly, Rin erupted into laughter, letting go of his controller, and it hit his arm as he put his hand on his forehead, letting out one gasp of laughter after another. His cheeks quickly obtained the colour of a beet as he kept on laughing, rocking back and forth, completely ignoring the slight throbbing sensation on his other arm where Haru's controller had hit him.

What?

Haru paused the game and turned to eye his childhood friend, looking as if about to have a heart attack. His voice echoed back from the walls, filling his ears. But it wasn’t unpleasant. In fact, he could sit down and listen to Rin laugh all day long. His blue eyes took in everything of Rin’s, his red hair, his blushing face, his features, his eyes squeezed shut, a single tear of laughter shimmering in the corner of his eye… No, it wasn’t the tear. It was Rin’s whole being that was shining. He was _beautiful_.

Eventually Rin stopped laughing and calmed down enough to continue playing the game, but his cheeks were still flushed red. Slowly but steadily he caught up to Haru’s score, winning one game after another, the announcer counting points in his favor, but he was so caught up in the game he didn’t notice that Haru had stopped playing overall. What was more important right now was winning the set and showing Haru that he can beat him.

 

*

 

 _“Game set. Game won by Player 2,”_ the announcer said, and Rin punched the air, still holding his controller in his grip.

“Woohoo, I did it! Yeah!” He jumped up and down, cheering and yelping, overjoyed at his victory. It was like that time when he had beaten Haru in that race, but this time, it was _just a game_. It was a victory, although in a silly game, but he had struggled with something he knew he couldn’t do, and he had still won.

Haru paid no attention to his character looking rather sad. He didn’t feel sad. If anything, he felt happy: he got to have a match with Rin (sadly not a race, but as it wasn’t an option…), and he could see him like this. He watched Rin celebrate his victory in euphoria as if he had won the Olympic gold, not just a random game on Wii, and as Rin stopped briefly to take a breather, he walked up to him.

His hands reached up to Rin’s face, fixing it firmly in his grasp. He watched as Rin’s victorious look turned into a shocked one, his whole face turning red and warm under his touch.

“H-Haru? W-What..”

Haru moved one of his thumbs, reaching the corner of Rin’s mouth, but he didn’t notice it; it was automatic. He had done automatic things like this for some time now, only later realizing he had slipped his feet under Rin’s, or intertwined his fingers with Rin’s, or leaned into Rin’s shoulder…

“Do you understand how happy this makes me? Seeing you like this?”

 

***

 

Rin lets out a sigh as he shuffles under the covers, propping up to his elbow and lying on his side, facing Haru who has opened his eyes again, just a little. Rin rests his head on his palm, smiling. Then he reaches his other arm out and pokes Haru’s cheek gently. “Haru.”

“What?”

Rin gently takes Haru’s chin into his hold and turns the dark-haired boy’s head towards him, before he leans in and kisses Haru softly on the lips. As he moves back, he whispers something.

“I understand. I really do.”


End file.
